Cover of the first edition, by Richard Barton.

The Seeds of Time is a collection of science fiction short stories by British writer John Wyndham, published in 1956 by Michael Joseph. The title is presumably from Macbeth, Act I Scene III.

Contents

The collection contains:

  • A foreword by John Wyndham
  • "Chronoclasm", a time-travelling romantic comedy.
  • "Time To Rest", depicting the life on Mars of a human survivor of the destruction of Earth. A sequel "No Place Like Earth"[1] appears in the collection No Place Like Earth (2003), which contains both; both also appeared dramatised together in 1965 as “No Place Like Earth”, the first episode of the BBC2 series, Out of the Unknown.[1]
  • "Meteor", in which alien visitors to Earth find themselves on a very different scale to humans.
  • "Survival", set on a spacecraft marooned in orbit around Mars. A BBC Radio 4 adaption was broadcast in 1989 with Stephen Garlick, Susan Sheridan, and Nicholas Courtney.[2] It was released as an Audiobook in 2007 with the 1981 version of The Chrysalids.[3]
  • "Pawley's Peepholes", another time travel story, this time playing it as comedy.
  • "Opposite Number", which plays with the concept of parallel universes.
  • "Pillar To Post". The central character is a paraplegic who was badly injured in a wartime attack. Frequently taking drugs to cope with the pain, he finds himself in a healthy body very far in the future. A complex plot of body-swapping and time travel ensues. It is considered by some people to be the best story in the collection.[4]
  • "Dumb Martian", a satire on racism, featuring an Earthman who buys a Martian wife.
  • "Compassion Circuit", a horror story on the subject of robotics.
  • "Wild Flower", which explores the tension between nature and technology.

References

  1. 1 2 Bould, Mark (18 January 2015). "Out of the Unknown: 'No Place Like Earth' (BBC2 4 October 1965)". Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  2. ↑ "The Chrysalids & Survival, John Wyndham,". Blackstone Audio/The Book Depository. 2014. Retrieved 14 January 2018., ISBN 978-1-48303-511-6
  3. ↑ "The Chrysalids & Survival: Classic Radio Sci-Fi (Dramatised)". BBC Audiobooks/Audible. 2007. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  4. ↑ www.dooyoo.co.uk (3 July 2006). "The Seeds of Time - John Wyndham - Review - Chronological Seedlings". Dooyoo.co.uk. Archived from the original on 19 December 2007. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
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